Electric Brompton is (almost) here...

[srw]

A bit more colour in this article:

www.bikeradar.com/commuting/news/article/brompton-electric-price-specs-details-50485/

The competition appears to be a technically inferior product weighing and costing rather more.

 

[Pale Rider]

A bit more colour in this article:

www.bikeradar.com/commuting/news/article/brompton-electric-price-specs-details-50485/

The competition appears to be a technically inferior product weighing and costing rather more.

The most direct competitor is the Brompton Nano kit, almost an identical design, which can be had for under £2,000 fitted to a new Brommie, making it cheaper.

The Tern bike in the article is a 20" Bosch crank drive, which is a different beast.

Going back to the Nano, it has a Chinese motor.

Interesting the bloke from Brompton in the article was working hard to convince us his German motor is superior.

Impossible to judge reliability until some time has elapsed, but the problem Brompton may have is the cheaper Chinese motor performs just as well on a road test.

My experience of Chinese hub motors is they are reliable, so it's a big ask for someone to pay an extra £700 to get an as yet unproven German motor.

http://www.nanoelectricbikes.co.uk/

 

[srw]

The most direct competitor is the Brompton Nano kit, almost an identical design, which can be had for under £2,000 fitted to a new Brommie, making it cheaper.

The Tern bike in the article is a 20" Bosch crank drive, which is a different beast.

Going back to the Nano, it has a Chinese motor.

Interesting the bloke from Brompton in the article was working hard to convince us his German motor is superior.

Impossible to judge reliability until some time has elapsed, but the problem Brompton may have is the cheaper Chinese motor performs just as well on a road test.

My experience of Chinese hub motors is they are reliable, so it's a big ask for someone to pay an extra £700 to get an as yet unproven German motor.

http://www.nanoelectricbikes.co.uk/

A fairer, like-for-like comparison (Basic M2L bike plus Nano Bike's bigger battery plus bag plus lighting plus fitting) comes it at more like £2,150 than £1,900. And you get no warranty on the bike and a one-year warranty on the electrics and a 2kg weight penalty. Brompton are offering a two-year warranty on the electrics and their usual (5-year?) warranty on the bike.

My best guess is that Nano will be churning out dozens at most of their kits a year. Brompton will be looking to sell hundreds. Yes, the Brompton branded option is rather more expensive than the Nano one, but I rather suspect that Brompton know their market quite well - they are increasingly a lifestyle brand rather than a bike brand.

 

[chriscross1966]

A fairer, like-for-like comparison (Basic M2L bike plus Nano Bike's bigger battery plus bag plus lighting plus fitting) comes it at more like £2,150 than £1,900. And you get no warranty on the bike and a one-year warranty on the electrics and a 2kg weight penalty. Brompton are offering a two-year warranty on the electrics and their usual (5-year?) warranty on the bike.

My best guess is that Nano will be churning out dozens at most of their kits a year. Brompton will be looking to sell hundreds. Yes, the Brompton branded option is rather more expensive than the Nano one, but I rather suspect that Brompton know their market quite well - they are increasingly a lifestyle brand rather than a bike brand.

Brompton will be looking for thousands per year, adn the Nano, whilst brilliant, is basically a (very) well engineered product knocked up in a shed, the Brompton one feels like it was all designed together (had a go at RL).